First Semester Final Performance Reflection

This past Tuesday we presented "The Kioskos" for our final performance this semester. As I specify in other reflections, this performance was based on our knowledge on Commedia De'll Arte, which we studied this past unit. My character wasn't an easy character and it involved a lot of physicallity. At the beginning of Tuesday, the final rehearsal was chaotic. The day before, the directors decided that, since we were not ready, instead of doing to whole performance, we should do a preview of it and ask for donations to the club.

 Thankfully I acted pretty well and received a lot of laughs back from the audience. I felt really confident because I studied my character really hard and I knew that I was ready. I also knew what I had to do and I knew how to be funny. I felt really comfortable on stage and I felt really secure when I started hearing the first laughs. If I had the chance to do this process all over again I would definately put more effort in the rehearsals. Not necessarilly more effort, but I have to practice more as if it was the presentation day. If you practice harder, the day of the presentation you will act better. I would also try to stay in character more. At the beginning of the play I started acting really "jerky", but towards the end I lost my character a little. Next time I want to stay more focused and end as strong as I began.

Second Commedia Reflection

Tomorrow we start the two-day performace. Last Friday was our last rehearsal before we perform. I think we achieved a lot and that we are buildingn a great performance. Personally I put a lot of effort in the rehearsals and outside of class also, thinking about my character and what can I do to improve my part. Tomorrow we start performing, so I need to decide now what I will wear, becasue it is important to choose a good costume. Tomorrow I hope everything works out good for us and we perfomr a great show.

First Commedia Rehearsal

Today we started practicing the acts on the production. I, as the lover, have to act in the first act, right after the prologue. Therefore, I had to start right away. Today we started to practice the scene in which me and the other lover fall in love. At the beginning it was really hard because I couldn't get in my character and act properly. As we were rehearsing, I started to understand my character better, and naturally I started acting better. After thirty minutes od intense practicing, we finished the first act. This is a big step in the production, due to the fact the we present next week, and we had nothing accomplished before that. For next class we have to keep the momentum and keep advancing in the production.

Commedia Dell' Arte Project

Today in class I found out that we are starting a production on commedia. Everybody in the class received a character that he or she is going to play. I got the cahracter of the male lover. At first I didn't know how to feel. Being the lover can be cool, but it is hard to act like. Also, my favorite character was Arlechinno and I really wanted that. On the other hand, being the lover has more protagonism, which I also like. Anyways, I will have to act the lover and I have to do my best. I really want a 7 in the class, so I have to do my best. I will practice and learn my character perfectly to perform the best I can.

Fools Reflection

This last Friday I went to the High School's play Fools. I wasn't part of the production, but I was very close to it, due to the fact that I am part of the Theater class in the school. From the inside, I could see how a lot of people put a lot of effort to make this possible. From the actor, to the director and the workers also. The play was really funny. I enjoyed it because it was relaxing. The actors were really into his characters and everything went out really well. I would've liked to see more characterization of one character, who was constantly laughing and distracted the audience.
The stage of the play was very clever. It had three distinctive parts which was very clever. It also had different colors the make the divisions clear. The lights of the play could have been better. It is true that the Center Stage doesn't count with a good light set, but it could've still been better.
Overall, I think that the play was successful, even though Friday audiende was a little empty. I hope that next performance allows me to be part of it, because I really want to be part of a production.

Characters in Commedia dell' Arte

This video shows a few characteristics of the characters in Commedia dell' Arte. It is in Italian, but the physicallity is appreciatted without understanding what they are saying. Enjoy

Commedia del Arte Reflection

This past week we have started to study Commedia del Arte. This Italian style of Drama is oneof the most, if not th most, influential style of commedy in the history of theater. In class we have now looked at three characters: zanni, lover and pantalone. Out of these three I personally like the zani the most. Even though all three have very funny aspects, zanni's stupidity makes it a one-of-a-kind character. We also learned about the rest of the character of Commedia, and the character I am most looking forward too is Harlequino. I don't know what exactly attracts me the most to this character, but I really like it. It may be the fact that it makes fun of everyone, including superiors. Some friends have told me that that character fits me perfectly. I honestly don't know if it fits me, but it is definately the character I am most interested in.

Monlogue Reflection

Today in class I presented my monologue to the class. As you can see below this entry, my monologue was about poverty and the right to have a family. Although I did a great presentation I think I still have aspects in which to improve on. I think that if I memorized my monologue it would've been a lot better. The fact that I don't have a paper in my hand lets me do more movements and it would improve my performance. I also think that having more mood swings would make it a little more impacting. I also think that mixing ideas and mologues would result in a great presentation for the GIN conference. I think that the emptiness of Alessa's soldier, my character, and Isabella's character can create a great scene because it involves three different characters that share the same problem: emptiness. This mixed character can be the killer of Nichola's and Daniela's characters, which are waiting to be killed and have no hope in life.

My Real Family Monologue-Final

I wake up and my house it’s empty. Not a single soul roams the place. I’m used to this, it happens every morning. My dad is not home, well, he never is. My mom is working, or at least that’s what she tells us. So I leave. There is no point of staying home. It has no light, no food and no proper roof nor floor. There is only one bed, for my parents. I just sleep in the pile of dirty clothes that I make. I honestly prefer that. It is my space; it is the only place in the world that I can consider mine. So I go down the hill and meet my real family. We are all 10 years old and we have a lot of fun together. We are brothers, we do everything together. We smile, we frown, we laugh and we cry together. And there is an old man across the road, sitting in the same stool since I have memory. His white beard and his long yellow nails take all our concentration. That’s why we go and sit to listen to what he has to tell us. We spend hours, maybe the whole day listening to that man. He’s our father, at least that’s what I feel. He loves us, we love him, and he looks after us…what else do I need? Sometimes we leave to ask for money, we wash some cars and eat with that money. We come together, the six of us and join all the money we have to buy food for everybody, like a family. After we buy food and eat, we save some for our dad, and when we give him the food, he thanks us and tells us more stories about life. And when the sky becomes dark, everybody has to leave. So, sadly I start to climb the hill again. I look behind and dad is still sitting there, as if he was waiting for us to get safely home. I get to the door of what I have to say is home and get in without knocking. I hear a gasp and see my mom and a man in the bed, which didn’t look like my dad at all. She starts to talk to me, I think she’s apologizing. But I don’t care what she has to say, you can’t destroy my family more than it is already destroyed, so what the hell. I keep walking and see my pile of clothes…MY pile of clothes. So I smile and remember my family: my brothers and our dad, and lay down thinking on the crappy day I’ll have tomorrow.

Background History on Dramatic Monologues

To be able to produce a good monologue, it is really important to know the background of it. If you have base information about the subject, you now have a lens to produce through. I learned that one of the most important influences of mologues are the Romas poets. Although they didn't quite produce monologues, they philosofically and psicologically describe different things and settings. The main reason that there monologues are not dramatic monologues is that they don't incorporate a concentrative narrative. Apart from that, plays and novels have an influence on dramatic monologues as well. They presented characterization to dramatic monologues.

Now I know that to have a successful monologue, I need characterization and concentrative narratives. Now I will analyze my monlogue, and fix it, so it can be successful.

Improvisation Reflection

In the past few classes of DP Theatre we have been practicing our improvisation skills and been part of activities regarding this technique. The games we have been playing show you what level of improvisation you are on and what aspects of this technique you have to work on. Personally, I think I am good using this technique, but I still have to work on a lot to be able to reach my best level. I think that I am good at making the scene funny, but I need to work on improvising scenes that carry on with the story. Improvisation is mostly used to make people laugh, and I think I am good at this. The reason I am good at this is because I act what first comes to my mind. I think this is the best way to make people laugh, because most of the time the first thing that comes into your mind is really crazy, therefore; really funny. The only problem with this, is that what comes to my mind does not necessarily help carry on with the story. I have to improve on making funny scenes, but that they help the story move forward. These couple of days, I've made the audience laugh, but I don't help in the development of a good storyline. Next time, I will try to think what can I do to make the story move forward, and with that lens, do whatever comes into my mind. That way, I can help the story move forward, and also make the audience laugh. As a class I think we need to develop a better environment to do improv. People in our class are afraid that the rest of the class won't laugh at their scene and they think too much at what they will do. After a lot of thinking, the scene falls and becomes extremely boring and pointless. If we manage to create a better improv environment the level of improvisation in the class will rise abruptly.

My Real Family-Monologue

I wake up and my house it’s empty. Not a single soul roams the place. I’m used to this, it happens every morning. My dad is not home, well, he never is. My mom is working, or at least that’s what she tells us. So I leave. There is no point of staying home. It has no light, no food and no proper roof nor floor. There is only one bed, for my parents. I just sleep in the pile of dirty clothes that I make. I honestly prefer that. It is my space; it is the only place in the world that I can consider mine. So I go down the hill and meet my real family. We are all 10 and we have a lot of fun together. We are brothers, we do everything together. We smile, we frown, we laugh and we cry together. And there is an old man across the road, sitting in the same stool since I have memory. His white beard and his long yellow nails take all our concentration. That’s why we go and sit to listen to what he has to tell us. We spend hours, maybe the whole day listening to that man. He’s our father, at least that’s what I feel. He loves us, we love him, and he looks after us…what else do I need? Sometimes we leave to ask for money, we wash some cars and eat with that money. We come together, the six of us and join all the money we have to buy food for everybody, like a family. After we buy food and eat, we save some for our dad, and when we give him the food, he thanks us and tells us more stories abo life. And when the sky becomes dark, everybody has to leave. So, sadly I start to climb the hill again. I look behind and dad is still sitting there, as if he was waiting for us to get safely home. I get to the door of what I have to say is home and get in without knocking. I hear a gasp and see my mom and a man in the bed, which didn’t look like my dad at all. She starts to talk to me, I think she’s apologizing. But I don’t care what she has to say, you can’t destroy my family more than it is already destroyed, so what the hell. I keep walking and see my pile of clothes…MY pile of clothes. So I smile and remember my family: my brothers and our dad, and lay down thinking on the wonderful day I’ll have tomorrow.